Democratic strategist James Carville said Monday that he supported Abdul el Sayed’s Senate bid, after previously raising questions about the contender’s anti-Israel stance and ties to socialists.
Carville’s shift is significant, as he is a longtime strategist known in Democratic circles for embodying more centrist opposition to the rising socialist and anti-Israel influence in the party.
“Would I take him in a vacuum? Probably not,” Carville said during an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, weighing in on el Sayed’s bid against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers. “But against a clown like Rogers, who is an election denier running for the United States Senate in the year 2026, who has never at once opposed the interest of Big Pharma? Yeah, I’m going to be for el Sayed.”
The development comes after Carville expressed sweeping reservations about one of el Sayed’s top surrogates on the campaign trail, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. Carville has taken issue with Piker due to concerns that he holds antisemitic views, including comments in April that he “would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”
“To talk about the larger Democratic Party, post the election in Michigan going forward, I am not going to be in the same party with Hasan Piker,” Carville said in a recent Fox News interview.
“I have no intention of ever being in the same political party with that guy,” he continued. “Now, I think that a majority — overwhelming majority of Democrats agree with me, but this idea that we’re going to seize the means of production and this — just go look at the DSA platform.”
El Sayed distanced himself from Piker on Sunday, declining to confirm whether he would continue to campaign with the streamer and saying he disavowed Piker’s comment that the U.S. “deserved” the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
In another olive branch to more centrist voters ahead of the general election, el Sayed made a pitch to Republicans and independents in Michigan on Tuesday, urging them to give his candidacy a chance.
Carville’s endorsement of his candidacy comes after the strategist has expressed disdain for socialists, who back el Sayed.
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In June, Carville urged socialists to split from Democrats and form their own party, warning that “there’s just some s*** that I can’t be in the same tent with.”
“All of these people hate Democrats,” Carville said. “Why do you want to run as a Democrat? Start your own movement. If it’s such a powerful, sweeping movement that’s got momentum everywhere, then go ahead and be at the head of it. Don’t use the Democratic Party to advance it.”